Government raids several newspaper offices
New York, July 20, 2005—Police in Karachi cracked down on Islamic fundamentalist publications in the past week, raiding the offices of several newspapers, arresting four journalists and several newspaper vendors, and confiscating copies of the publications. On Saturday, police raided and shut down the offices of the fundamentalist Urdu-language weekly Zarb-i-Islam, arresting editor Nasir Ali…
CPJ condemns threats to media freedom in Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand, July 19, 2005—Thailand’s cabinet today imposed emergency rule empowering the prime minister to censor the media in the country’s three Muslim-dominated, insurgency-hit southern provinces. The measure also gives the government power to detain suspects without trial, tap telephones, monitor e-mail exchanges, and confiscate suspects’ property in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces.
Two journalists imprisoned for articles critical of the president
New York, July 18, 2005—One journalist was sentenced to three years in prison and another to three months today for commentaries in the private weekly L’Observateur that criticized President Idriss Déby, according to local sources. The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the court’s decision and calls on authorities to release the two immediately. The paper’s…
CHAD
JULY 18, 2005 Updated: October 17, 2005 Ngaradoumbé Samory, L’Observateur IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION Samory, editor of the private weekly L’Observateur, was sentenced to three months in prison and a fine of 100,000 CFA francs (about U.S.$176) on charges of defaming the president and “inciting hatred.”
Violent attacks on the press continue
New York, July 14, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by a recent series of violent attacks on journalists in Bangladesh, including a gang assault on a reporter inside a local press club. Rafiqul Islam, a correspondent for daily Amar Desh in the northwestern town of Rajshahi, was assaulted on July 6 by…
CPJ condemns arrests, urges immediate dismissals
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the criminal prosecution of three Chadian journalists in connection with their work. One of these journalists, Michaël Didama of the private weekly Le Temps, remains in jail in the capital, N’Djamena, more than two weeks after his initial arrest.
CPJ decries jailing of U.S. reporter
Washington, July 6, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed that a U.S. judge has sentenced a journalist to prison for refusing to reveal her confidential source to a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative’s identity. Judge Thomas F. Hogan, in a hearing in U.S. District Court, ordered Judith Miller of…
CPJ alarmed about President Uribe’s comments
New York, June 30, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed at recent comments by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez that could endanger journalists in his country. In a June 27 interview with radio station W Radio, Uribe suggested that leftist guerrillas told a foreign news organization in advance about an impending attack in southern…